The Feds Don't Seem to Understand Bitcoin

Last week, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) made waves in the Bitcoin community by releasing a statement of guidance that paid special attention to virtual currencies. Patrick Murck, who provides legal council to Bitcoin.org and contributes to the foundation's blog, expressed concerns about the implementation of the suggestions, which are being made to the Bank Secrecy Act . Murck said he “was happy to see FinCEN issue some clarity around the overly-broad pre-paid access rules and definitively state that they do not apply in the context of bitcoin,” but he was also pretty worried about the ill-fitting definitions FinCEN came up with: Left unsaid are any specifics around the facts and circumstances that would constitute “engaging as a business.” [In reference to the definitions of “User”, “Administrator” and “Exchanger”] FinCEN’s guida...